Tang Xiaoping, Qian Keping, Yuan Xiaozhen, Johnson Y N Lau
Institute of Infectious Diseases, Guangzhou the 8th People's Hospital, Guangzhou 510060, China.
Zhonghua Shi Yan He Lin Chuang Bing Du Xue Za Zhi. 2002 Jun;16(2):128-31.
To determine the relationship between diversity of hepatitis C virus quasispecies and viremia, activity of liver disease and response to interferon therapy.
HCV quasispecies heterogeneity in 68 patients with chronic hepatitis C were detected by single stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis of the HCV E2 hypervaribale region 1 (HVR1); of these, 48 were subsequently treated with interferon-alpha for 6 months.
HVR1 was amplified in 61 patients. The average number of SSCP bands was 6.2+/-2.4. Quasispecies heterogeneity significantly correlated with serum HCV RNA levels (P<0.01), but not with serum ALT, AST levels and histological activity index (P>0.05). Of the patients who received interferon therapy, 43 were HVR1 positive. Patients who gained sustained response (n=11) had lower pre-treatement quasispecies heterogeneity (3.3+/-1.2) compared to those who had complete end-of-treatment response (ETR) with relapse (6.3+/-2.2, n=12, P<0.5) or no response (8.0+/-3.3, n=20, P<0.01). At the end of treatment, HVR1 could still be detected in 16 patients. The number of quasispecies heterogeneity in these patients decreased to 3.4+/-1.2, which was significantly lower than that in the patients who didn't receive interferon therapy (6.8+/-2.5, P<0.01). Of these 16 patients, 10 had change in quasispecies patterns.
Increased quasispecies heterogeneity can cause high HCV viremia, but it is not related to severity of liver disease. Quasispecies heterogeneity is another marker to predict the response to interferon-alpha in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
确定丙型肝炎病毒准种多样性与病毒血症、肝脏疾病活动度及干扰素治疗反应之间的关系。
通过对丙型肝炎病毒E2高变区1（HVR1）进行单链构象多态性（SSCP）分析，检测68例慢性丙型肝炎患者的HCV准种异质性；其中48例随后接受了6个月的α干扰素治疗。
61例患者的HVR1被扩增。SSCP条带的平均数量为6.2±2.4。准种异质性与血清HCV RNA水平显著相关（P<0.01），但与血清ALT、AST水平及组织学活动指数无关（P>0.05）。在接受干扰素治疗的患者中，43例HVR1呈阳性。获得持续应答（n=11）的患者治疗前准种异质性（3.3±1.2）低于那些治疗结束时完全应答（ETR）但复发（6.3±2.2，n=12，P<0.5）或无应答（8.0±3.3，n=20，P<0.01）的患者。治疗结束时，16例患者仍可检测到HVR1。这些患者的准种异质性数量降至3.4±1.2，显著低于未接受干扰素治疗的患者（6.8±2.5，P<0.01）。在这16例患者中，10例准种模式发生了变化。
准种异质性增加可导致高HCV病毒血症，但与肝脏疾病的严重程度无关。准种异质性是预测慢性丙型肝炎患者对α干扰素反应的另一个指标。
